Dana White says Anderson Silva should have won if not for third round walk off

UFC president Dana White was stunned upon witnessing Anderson Silva lose to Michael Bisping at the UFC Fight Night 84. He thought that the much experience Silva won the fight had it not been for the walk off that he did back in the third round.

White told mmamania that he scored the fight the same as the judges but only favoring the Brazilian legend. He thought that Silva should have followed up the flying knee with deadly blows to Bisping to assure of the win instead of walking off and celebrating too early, even added that Silva may have been rusty at the start of the match have fought only once in the last two years, but Silva still stayed sharp.

“Crazy, I mean absolute madness. The flying knee. Listen, walk off knockouts are awesome, make sure the fight is over. If he (Silva) would have jumped on top of him he could have finished the fight. He did not, he tried to walk away. I have the same score (as the judges) but the other way. Well that’s the thing. He was celebrating, he was up on the Octagon celebrating the win and everybody was screaming ‘the fight isn’t over!’ And they’re trying to get everybody’s guys out, the commission guys, I don’t know why they were allowed to come in anyway so it was crazy,” said White.

But despite the loss, White credited Silva for putting an outstanding fight and proving everyone at the O2 Arena that he still has what it takes to be in the UFC. He also gave due credit to Bisping, who also showed character.

“Bisping has never won a world title but he’s been around here for a very long time and everybody gets excited when Bisping fights because Bisping comes to fight. Bisping never backs down from a fight. He’s in your face from the minute the fight is made until the last bell rings and it’s one of the reasons so many people like to watch his fights and so many people respect him,” White added.

On the other hand, Bisping was all praise for Silva, at the post fight press conference, he told reporters that the fight live up to his expectations and that it was a big win for his career – having survived and beaten Silva inside the Octagon.

“I’m feeling very good. This was the fight I wanted for a long time. I have the utmost respect for Silva. Anderson and my career have ran parallel for the last 10 years. I also wanted to fight him to test him. He was the poster boy of the UFC for quite some time. Enjoying the moment and I always have respect for him. He’s a legend,” Bisping said.

He admitted that he got seriously concerned going to the end of the third round of the fight and thought that the match was stopped.

“When the round stop, I was not sure. I was not sure what happened I was like please don’t let this be over. It’s always about heart and the mindset to do this. It’s how much you want it and it was through that I got through. Fortunately it was not the end and I got the job done as they say,” Bisping explained.